Ghamid Bahir

Ghamid Bahir (1908-2003) was the Premier of the Cocos Islands from 11 September 1949, succeeding Narayana Mayadev. He was also the chair of the Cocos Labor Party.

Biography
Ghamid Bahir was born on the Cocos Islands in 1908, and he belonged to a family of Sunni Malays. He came from a family of modest fishermen, and his family paid for him to be educated on mainland Australia with their meagre income. Bahir later returned home with a degree and became one of the first native-born doctors on the island, opening a clinical practice. Bahir became a popular community member, and he became the chair of the Cocos Statehood Coalition, an advocacy group which sought for the Cocos Islands to become an official state of Australia. In 1949, during the 1949 federal election, he became the Cocos Labor Party nominee for Premier, as he won an uncompetitive leadership contest. Bahir promised that he would fight for Cocos statehood, social justice, and tariffs to protect local fishermen and farmers from foreign competition, and his party won 35.5% of the vote; this propelled him into the premiership.